Constitutional debate in Canada

The proclamation renamed Canada "The Province of Quebec", redefined its borders, and established a British appointed colonial government.

The current Constitution of Canada consists of the 1867 British North America Act (BNA) and subsequent amendments.

In general, amendments can be passed by the House of Commons, the Senate, and a two-thirds majority of the provincial legislatures (7 of the 10) representing at least 50% of the Canadian population (the 7/50 formula).

It is primarily the politicians of Canada West that, with the Great Coalition, orchestrated the process which led to the legislative union of the British North American colonies.

Premier William Annand and federal MP Joseph Howe pushed for the removal of Nova Scotia from the new Dominion.

The point of view that the confederation is the act of foundation of the Canadian nation was and still is today the policy of the federal government.

George-Étienne Cartier supported and promoted the project as a way to regain the political autonomy that Lower Canada had lost with the forced Union of 1840.

After 1867 and up until the 1960s, the idea that the BNAA was a legal document containing guarantees to the equality of the two founding peoples was taken for granted by most members of the intellectual elite of French Canada.

Nationalist politicians from Quebec (sometimes Liberal, sometimes Conservative) were elected on programs which stated how they were to defend the constitutional guarantees granted by Great Britain to French Canadians in order to protect their nationality.

Some rouges such as Antoine-Aimé Dorion, demanded that the project be submitted to a direct vote by the people, convinced it would be rejected.

Many politicians and public figures think that Canada would move forward in the recognition of its own diversity by declaring itself a de jure multinational state.

Believing that Canada needs a strong federal government to defend and promote national unity, some are by principle reluctant to decentralization of powers to the provinces.

Others accept broad provincial powers so long as those given to Quebec are no different from those given to the other provinces (essentially the position of the Reform Party during the Meech Lake debate, as described in Preston Manning's 1992 book The New Canada.

Marginalized after the Patriotes rebellion of 1837–38, the secessionist option was resurrected as a credible solution in the wake of the 1960s Quiet Revolution of Quebec.

Some politicians see independence as the normal conclusion of the Quebec struggle for the conservation of its autonomy within the Canadian federal framework.

Efforts to reform the Canadian constitution in order to recognize Quebec's specificity (or distinct society) and provide a means to accommodate its need for greater autonomy have resulted in the Meech Lake Accord which collapsed before it came into effect and the Charlottetown Accord which was rejected by a majority of Canadians and also a majority of Quebecers in referendum in 1995.